Battlefield
The map follows the wars between the Dacians and the Romans in their order, from the war with Domitian to the monument at Adamclisi. Each step has its own text, years and sources, and the places are those attested in the sources. The lines on the map are schematic: the sources do not give the exact routes.
Schematic: the sources do not give the exact routes. The lines join attested places and do not show the real path of the armies.
The steps, as text
85–89 The war with Domitian
Under king Decebalus the Dacians crossed the Danube and attacked the province of Moesia.
Emperor Domitian sent armies, and the prefect of the praetorian guard Cornelius Fuscus was defeated and killed in 86 or 87; the date is not settled.
In 88, the general Tettius Julianus won a battle at Tapae.
The peace of 89 left the Dacians a kingdom recognised by Rome, with Roman money and craftsmen received as a gift, as Cassius Dio writes.
Debated: The exact dates of the war with Domitian (85, 86 or 87).
Sources: Cassius Dio, Roman History, LXVII; Jordanes, Getica (the defeat of Cornelius Fuscus)
101–102 Trajan’s first war
Trajan crossed the Danube in 101 and fought hard battles at Tapae.
Trajan’s Column shows Roman soldiers caring for the wounded, using their clothes as bandages.
In the following winter the Dacians attacked again, and in 102 Decebalus asked for peace; he agreed to pull down some of his fortifications and to receive Roman garrisons.
Sources: Cassius Dio, Roman History, LXVIII; Trajan’s Column, Rome, 113
105–106 The second war: the bridge over the Danube
Decebalus broke the agreement, and Trajan set out again.
Cassius Dio says that the emperor built a stone bridge over the Danube, attributed to the architect Apollodorus of Damascus.
Sources: Cassius Dio, Roman History, LXVIII
106 The advance to the mountains and the siege of Sarmizegetusa Regia
The Roman army advanced towards the mountains, besieged Sarmizegetusa Regia and took it in 106.
Sources: Cassius Dio, Roman History, LXVIII
106 The end of Decebalus
Decebalus fled, and when he was overtaken he took his own life; Cassius Dio adds that his head was taken to Rome.
A scene of the Column is usually interpreted as his end, although not all historians agree.
Dacia became a Roman province in 106.
Debated: The scene on Trajan’s Column usually interpreted as the death of the Dacian king, an episode debated by historians.
Sources: Cassius Dio, Roman History, LXVIII; Trajan’s Column, Rome, 113
109 Tropaeum Traiani, at Adamclisi
In 109 the monument at Adamclisi (Tropaeum Traiani) was inaugurated, and in 113, in Rome, the Column that tells the wars in stone.
Eutropius writes that Trajan brought people here from all corners of the empire.
Sources: Eutropius, Breviarium, VIII, 6; Trajan’s Column, Rome, 113
What is certain and what is debated
What we know
- The succession of the wars of 85–89, 101–102, 105–106 and the year 106.
- Dacia became a Roman province in 106.
- In 109 the monument at Adamclisi (Tropaeum Traiani) was inaugurated.
What is debated
- The exact dates of the war with Domitian (85, 86 or 87).
- The scene on Trajan’s Column usually interpreted as the death of the Dacian king, an episode debated by historians.
- The exact place of Tapae: on the map it is marked “location debated”.
On dates and places, the last word belongs to the historians.
Sources
- Cassius Dio, Roman History, LXVII and LXVIII (the wars of Domitian and of Trajan)
- Jordanes, Getica (the defeat of Cornelius Fuscus)
- Trajan’s Column, Rome, inaugurated in 113 (scenes from the two wars)
- Eutropius, Breviarium, VIII, 6 (the colonisation of Dacia after the conquest)
Text written by Explore Dacia on the basis of the sources above; claims are attributed to their authors.